He approached the shopping cart with a guilty look on his face, carrying practically every flavor our local grocery store carried in stock.
“I can’t decide!” he said, almost defensively.
After a terse, intentional moment of silence I agreed amiably, “Sure. We can judge them all.”
His face lit into a smile. We purchased all five against my better judgment. We brewed a pot of coffee and set upon our mission seriously.
Italian Sweet Creme is perhaps the most solid and delectable of the bunch featured above. It holds the right amount of sweetness and adds a touch of creaminess that turns every cup of coffee into liquefied, edible silk. Its flavor is not overpowering and is perfect for the every day caffeine boost without losing its appeal. Highly recommend it.
Pumpkin Spice is usually released in November, right in time for Thanksgiving. It tastes like autumn – cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin without the crunch of fallen leaves. The overall flavor is a bit heady, and is not one that I would be able to consume on a regular basis. It would go well with a slice of apple pie and a dabble of whipped cream.
Gingerbread was our mutual least favorite. When I think of gingerbread, I think warm, moist cookies or intricately decorated houses teeming with frosting and gumdrops. However, when one drinks down some joe flavored with this cocktail, it almost makes the coffee dry and seems to somehow mimic the effects of a gingerbread cookie’s texture on the tongue without actually existing. Not very pleasant, and a bit too novel to work.
Caramel apple is an incredibly sweet flavor and reminds me of Starbucks’ hot apple cider, if it had been poured straight into plain coffee – not very appetizing. In fact, if everyone bought Coffeemate, Starbucks could well suffer in sales – there are no tricks to their beans. They use a lot of synthetic and natural flavor blends to win over their consumers. I would actually rather purchase this than spend $3.00+ on a cup, hand-blended by a barista. Still, while the Starbucks equivalent is sickly sweet, this one just does not endear itself enough to be an automatic re-purchase. The caramel does not really come out and one is left with apples. I do not want apples in my coffee.
Peppermint mocha was the flavor I felt most skeptical toward at the start of our taste test trials. Normally, a whiff of mocha anything is enough to deter me – something about it just numbs my tastebuds into submission and avoidance. However, the minty allure was enough to keep my mouth watering enough for the first cup. For the second. The winds blew harshly against the windows. The storm blew a mild draft threw the aged building’s cracks, and over the course of the weekend, more cups were poured in an attempt to block out the chill. This is the perfect complement to winter weather, and one that will be missed come spring.
Have you tried any of these flavors? What do you think about them?
